DEARBORN – Fifteen Dearborn high school students will be recognized at 11 a.m. Saturday during the unveiling and dedication ceremony for one of two sculptures they designed during two years of collaboration on the city’s first ever Pockets of Perception Design Team.
The ceremony will be held at City Hall Park, 13615 Michigan Ave.
A “Meet the Design Team” reception in City Hall Annex will follow the dedication ceremony. The public is welcome to attend by making a reservation at 313-943-5478 by noon Thursday.
The POP Project, focused on young people, encouraging multicultural understanding while cultivating their creativity and investment in the community through the creation of public art.
The 15-member student design team selected from Dearborn, Edsel Ford and Fordson high schools, spent more than a year of their free time developing designs for the two POP sculptures.
They continued to provide input as fabricator Ken Thompson of Flatlanders Sculpture Supply used his skills to bring their designs to life as aluminum sculptures that will be on permanent display along Michigan Avenue — one in Dearborn City Hall Park and the other in the West Dearborn Pocket Park.
“POP is the extremely appropriate, upbeat acronym for Pockets of Perception – We Are One Community,” said EmmaJean Woodyard, executive director of the Dearborn Community Fund, which supported the project.
“The students on the POP design team literally ‘popped’ with creativity, enthusiasm and dedication to designing sculptures that reflect the mission of the project. The end result, which will be unveiled on April 21, is two impressive sculptures that complement each other, fitting together like two giant aluminum puzzle pieces that depict an image of multicultural understanding.”
Students on the POP Design Team are:
• From Dearborn High School: Malcolm H. Brown, Camille Charara, Eilionora E. Donelson, Shaker Hassan, Yutian Leng, John Richard Struman, Fatme Ali Taleb, and Anthony Vanarsdale.
• From Edsel Ford High School: Anthony Marquez, Carolyn Pawlicki, Natalie Randall, and Michelina A. Risbeck.
• From Fordson High School: Reem Meheidli, Hanna Omar, Shureza Conchita Rodriguez.
Fordson teacher Mohamad Bazzi and Wendy Sample, a former Art Resource teacher for the Dearborn Public Schools, provided professional guidance for the team.
For more information about the POP project and other programs sponsored by the DCF, or how to contribute to the fund, call 313-943-5478.
The POP Design Project was made possible with support from the following donors: Ford Motor Co. Fund, Ford Foundation, Dearborn Community Fund, East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority, West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority, Kosch Family Foundation, Exchange Club of Dearborn, city of Dearborn, Dearborn Public Schools, Nichols Ski and Snowboard, Toni Patrick Leonard, Mickey and Judy Patrick, Mary Lou Zangerle, Versacom, M. Shoushanian, Wendy Sample, Dearborn Rotary Foundation, Nelson and Barb Stieper, Howe Peterson Funeral Home, AAUW Dearborn Branch, Robert W. Curtis, Hair Designs North – Kim Briffa; Johanna Seidel, Margaret Schaefer, the Woodyard family, Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce Farmers & Artisans Market, Anina and Ben Bachrach, Tom Beydoun, Steven Bernard Jewelers LTD, David and Ruth Sample, Jeff Stassen, Betsy Cushman, Maureen Ewasek, Eddie Fakhoury, Mayor John and Christina O’Reilly Jr., and Neimann/Smith Architecture.
The Dearborn Community Fund, which supported the POP project, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the mission to support cultural and recreational programs in Dearborn.